Are we smart enough for smart growth?

I was sorry to have missed the presentation on Smart Growth and SmartCode in person when renowned urban planner Robert Orr addressed the public and Middletown's Planning and Zoning commission. When I got home around 8:30, I tuned in the show on public access.

At the behest of commissioner Catherine Johnson, Orr gave an overview, and numerous examples of how Smart Growth, a rigorous blueprint for health and profitable urban development, can revitalize cities. The evidence seems clear that in places like Burlington VT, Petaluma, CA, New Haven and Hamden CT and Portland ME, that a Smart Growth approach, using a zoning formula called, appropriately enough SmartCode.

With Orr's approach, city streets would be more navigable, more approachable and livable in scale, and feature a mix of residential, retail and commercial space. The plan is inclusive, covering building and street design, occupancy and transit.

Middletown seems the perfect city in which this plan could work. We have a vital Main Street, already well on it's way, enough vintage architecture so that the entire city would not have to be built, Smart Growthwise, from the ground up, and a core of urban pioneers who would like to see the city make the next leap forward.

Interestingly, SmartCode stipulates "no banks/no blanks" in Smart Growth corridors. Orr explained that banks present "blank facades" in the streetscape that are not inviting for pedestrians to walk by. I wonder what he would think about the block of Main Street, on the West Side of the street, between Court and College Streets - three banks, and two parking lots make up the entire stretch, with Middletown's only outsized office highrise looming behind.

I'd encourage citizens to push the Planning and Zoning Commission to adopt SmartCode for our city center. The Commission is now reviewing the plan of development for the town. Whether our town planners have the courage and vision to do so remains to be seen.

The presentation was recorded, and should be available on tape in the public library. We can also ask the cable access station to edit the meeting down to just the Orr presentation and feature it for repeat broadcasts.

The building blocks of building blocks

For those concerned with the course of development in Middletown, CT, this from Catherine Johnson:

Dear Friends:

I am thrilled to announce that a fellow architect & town planner, Robert Orr,
will be giving a presentation NEXT WEDNESDAY June 11, 2008 about how
we can change Middletown's development pattern from sprawl to something more sustainable.

He will describe how building traditional mixed-use neighborhoods can be our city's solution
to the oil crisis, the global warming problem, the segregation of society, city grand list, and
destruction of our natural environment.

I have asked him to come as we begin to look at our
Plan of Conservation and Development to update it, or change it wholesale.

It is my greatest wish that you would make a point to be there. You are among those who
care most about Middletown, and believe me, we need more voices at P&Z meetings.
We need more voices contributing to and writing the Plan.

The Scheduled P&Z meeting will begin at & pm, but will be brief.
The presentation should start about 7:30 pm.
We architects like pictures, so it will be very visual.

Pleas share this with your neighbors.

Catherine Johnson
Architect & Town Planner
161 College Street
Middletown, CT 06457

BTW, Kudos to Catherine for extending the role of our planning commission into the realm of investigating alternatives to reckless development.